Apple watch family plan

[RDLM]

Paying for a family plan on apple watch so my son can have a mobile plan on his watch to travel to school but without wanting him to have a mobile phone yet.

Setting the family plan has been impossible. Various error messages regarding the family plan or downloading sim depending on the various resets and reinstalls.... Have spent many hours on with the technical support team, they say the issue is a "known problem" with "back office".  There is apparently no timescale to fix this problem which affects multiple users.

I asked if my payments for the family plan would be refunded because of the lack of an effective service.  I was advised I can only cancel the plan which would be a big setback in terms of getting my son a device he can use to travel to school alone. 

EE is the only provider that offers the family sharing plan on Apple watch. I don't want to be backed into getting him phone because I think he's not ready for it (aged 10). 

EE family plan felt like the perfect solution, but it seems a plan is being sold which is at best hit and miss as to whether it works for customers.  Have spent hours and hours on this and it is incredibly frustrating.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @RDLM 

Welcome to the community.

I'm sorry to hear that there's a problem with your Apple Watch plan. I understand that you've already discussed this at length with our technical support team, but I recommend calling them again, as they're in a better position to advise you on this.

Chris

[RDLM]

Just to update, this hasn’t been resolved. Still paying for a family plan contract with no family plan available and no time scale for a fix. Apparently it’s with “back office” - whatever that means. 
Watch cannot be used outside the house to text or call, which is what I had wanted for my son’s safety travelling to school. 

[YellowsBest]

I have just purchased an Apple Watch but have no iPhone to make calls with, so the family plan seemed the ideal solution for me.

But I've looked big and low on the EE website and can't find out how I purchase this plan.

And reading this story, I'm rather worried that this isn't going to work very well - if there are 'back office' issues, then I presume it's not going to work for anyone!

I also can't find any chat tool on the EE website to discuss this further, and I am reluctant to call the technical support number as I read that it costs 25p per minute.

I fail to see how I can now be encouraged to sign up with EE!

[James_B]

Hi @YellowsBest,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

You can purchase a watch with a family member plan at Pay Monthly Smart Watches | Smart Watches & Contracts | EE.

Just select the watch you'd like to purchase, followed by the plan.

Technical Support is free to call on 150 from an EE pay monthly phone or 25p per call (not per minute) on pay as you go.

Hope this helps.

James

[F123456]

Have the issues raised by RDLM been resolved?

I am contemplating changing my network provider to EE for the same reasons as RDLM.

Apple lists EE as the only carrier in the United Kingdom that supports their family set up for the Apple Watch (cellular).

Family Setup support.

Family Setup allows you to use your iPhone to set up an Apple Watch for kids or older adults in your household. The watch can then be used with its own phone number and account. The provider’s cellular service lets you connect your family member’s watch to the cellular network with its own mobile service plan, so the family member can stay connected even without your iPhone nearby. To see which carriers support Family Setup for GPS + Cellular models of Apple Watch Series 4 or later, refer to the chart below.

[Chris_B]

@F123456  providing you’ve got an iPhone to set up the Watch with you can set it up with a family plan.  The Watch has to be setup with a iPhone on  contract first as the account for the Watch is linked to that iPhones account for billing. The Watch has its own number and is a separate device to the iPhone.    The iPhone is then the controller device for the watch so who ever is the iPhone owner can choose what numbers can be called/texted from the watch.  

as setting up any new product that’s linked to an account there  can always be an issue. It is not common but it can happen.    I’ve not seen many posts about family watch plans having issues 

[dmcconachie]

Once the Family plan is setup and the watch is self-sufficient, can the SIM be removed from the iPhone (to go back in an Android phone) - if so will the iPhone still be able to act as guardian?

[Christopher_G]

Hi @dmcconachie 
Welcome to the community. 🙂

This 'Set up Apple Watch for a family member' help page explains the setup process. It says that you would only need an iPhone for the initial set up.

Chris

[Diem171818]

Hello

Have you managed to reslove watch issue? We are in the same boat. Purchased the watch for our 10 year old,to have it linked to a phone,we are with Vodafone.  Now 3 weeks down the line,the watch is still not working vodafone claims they support family sharing